Smith: Extreme letters writers tough to read

First, a quick note of congratulations to Charley Santoni, the new president of the Woodland Chamber of Commerce. Charley took over for Kevin Vaziri at the 82nd Annual Installation Ceremony last Friday night.

Also recognized during the affair were 2012 Member of the Year, Don Sharp of Re/Max Woodland; 2012 Ambassador of the Year, Janet Carrere of First Northern Bank and 2012 Salute to Business and Education Award to Tan Orthodontics; and, of course, Christy Hayes, owner of Kitchen428 and Mojo's Lounge, who was honored as 2012's Business of the Year. The restaurant at 428 First St., formerly Morrison's, celebrated its one-year anniversary just a couple of weeks ago.

I know it sounds a bit old-fashioned sometimes, but the chamber really does serve a vital purpose in the community, bringing together businesses, government leaders and private citizens to work out issues of mutual concern. In the end, the chamber is a force for good within the community (even if it does follow some recommends from the state Chamber of Commerce which often run contrary to the overall public good).

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I also got a letter from someone whose last name is Howard. I'm not really sure because the letter is hand-written and looks like this Howard.

The writer seems to be writing about the number of vacant buildings in downtown and the quality of some of the "businesses' presentation and cleanliness." The writer has only been here a short time and thinks the city is beautiful except for a few problem areas.

I don't think many people would disagree. There are some business owners who go to extremes to keep their places cleaned up and there are some property owners -- necessarily the owners of the businesses in the buildings -- who don't give a damn. Fortunately, there is work under way to rectify this. Downtown may not look that great, but it is looking better than in the past.

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I have a few letter writers who -- for lack of a better term -- are nuts. One of these people has been sending me letters for years (sometimes with the same name, sometimes with a different name), usually containing clippings from the Wall Street Journal, and hand-written scribbles about the issues of the day.

In the most recent posting from Ralph Bossely of Fremont, he includes a photocopy of the words: "GUN FREEHOME" and urges me to "make extra copies for all your buildings."

I guess this is supposed to make people fearful they will be terrorized, or their homes burglarized, because they don't have any guns around.

Of course, we have members of the NRA telling us that the only thing which will stop bad people with guns are good people with guns.

Yet, Chris Kyle, a former top Navy SEAL sniper, who authored the great book "American Sniper," was shot and killed along with his friend Chad Littlefield while out doing some practice shooting in Stephenville, Texas, just last week.

The suspect is Eddie Ray Routh, who was being helped by Kyle and Littlefield with his PTSD. Kyle was a professional marksman and soldier, a trained sniper, and yet he was shot to death. Tragic events like this that don't make me feel any more comfortable about having armed teachers in a classroom or knowing that people are carrying guns on city streets so they can protect their students and themselves.